HCL Technologies is expected to report a 8.profits for the quarter ended September 30 to Rs 783 core from Rs 854 crore reported in the previous quarter.NEW DELHI: Now it’s HCL Technologies’ turn to kiss the bell curve goodbye, though only partially as of now. The software services exporter is identifying departments where it can use a feedback-based performance appraisal system, joining a growing list of companies—the latest Indian entity being Infosys-—that have discarded the bell curve or similar appraisal mechanisms that force fit employees into performance categories.

A few years ago, HCL Tech was following an open rating, or rating based on feedback. "There are a few teams where the feedback is more than three to four times in a year."

"For these, we are not following the bell curve, instead we follow the absolute rating. We are slowly trying to strengthen a culture of dialogue and feedback,” said Prithvi Shergill, chief human resources officer (CHRO) at HCL Technologies.

The software company is set to announce its results on Monday.

"Though it has become fashionable for organisations to keep introducing changes, it is rather difficult to actually change the entire culture of the organisation. We at HCL are trying to get more feedback and dialogue into place. Some teams are ready and some are not," he said.

Shergill said that in a year or two, there could be a situation where half of the organisation would follow the bell curve while the rest would follow feedback system for performance appraisal.

Some other firms that have completely or partially moved away from the bell curve are Accenture, Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco and KPMG. Discarding the bell curve has already made a difference to Infosys, which is seeing a lower attrition rate. The 176,000-workers’ IT company saw its attrition rate drop to 13 per cent this quarter, compared with more than 20 per cent a year ago.

Typically, the bell curve segregates all employees into distinct baskets— top, average and bottom performers—with the vast majority being treated as average performers.

While moving away from the bell curve, companies are trying to get more accountability into place for the rating. Like Infosys’ senior vice president Richard Lobo said, "From now on, the managers will take a call and reward."

Many companies want managers or team leaders to be made accountable for ratings. "With a bell curve in place, the managers always had an excuse when employees questioned their ratings. Now, in distribution-led ratings, managers will have to take the responsibility and ownership for rating their team members," said an HR head of a leading professional services and consulting firm in India.

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As the Special Chief Secretary & IT Advisor to the Chief Minister - Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, J A Chowdary is all for chasing new growth horizons, pursuing radically different development approaches and outguessing technology trends that will shape the future.

As the Special Chief Secretary & IT Advisor to the Chief Minister - Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, J A Chowdary is all for chasing new growth horizons, pursuing radically different development approaches and outguessing technology trends that will shape the future.